Islamabad:

The International Monetary Fund has asked about the mechanism of responsibility for officials who have discrepancies in their declarations of activation, as the overwhelming majority of government employees still remain exempt from public assets.

The global lender also tried to implement a risk -based verification of the information revealed by the officials and possible sanctions and investigation of the officers whose assets exceed their declared sources of income, according to the government sources.

However, due to a very narrow definition of a “civil servant”, however, it is estimated that hardly 25,000 officials’ assets can be passed on even after a change in officials acts as part of the IMF condition for the $ 7 billion package, the government sources added.

The officers of the autonomous bodies, regulatory bodies such as State Bank of Pakistan, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Provincial Civil Services will still remain free subsequent publication.

The majority of the financial decisions are made by the public employees working in these organizations, which is also reflected in the number and value of the revision objections printed by the auditor in Pakistan.

The visiting IMF delegation met with the establishment department and discussed the questions related to promotion, posting and responsibility for the officials who earn on the basic scale of 17 to 22, according to the government sources. The weight of the delegation was, in addition to only the reveal of the information and to take concert action against the corrupt officers, the sources said.

The meeting was held on the day the federal cabinet approved changes in the 1973 officials.

New change

A new clause 15-A declaration on assets in the old law has been introduced with the aim of enabling the declaration of the official’s assets. The government has also eased the right to access to the Information Act of 2017 to enable this information publication.

The new clause approved by the Cabinet says that “despite something contained in Klause G in section 7 of the Court of Access to Information Act 2017, the declaration of assets for an official in BS-17 and above, his spouse and dependent Children, including domestic and foreign assets and obligations, as it may prescribe, submitted to the Federal Board of Revenue and the same, are publicly available through FBR in accordance with the rules that may be prescribed.

However, a limited exemption from the publication has been given, and the new change says that “the extent of disclosure must take due account of the balance between public interest in good governance and the individual’s privacy and security”.

The change is part of the 40 conditions that Pakistan has agreed with the IMF in return for the $ 7 billion loan card.

The IMF mission on assessing management and corruption diagnosis is in the city and met with the establishment department to discuss measures to limit the threat of corruption in the bureaucracy. The IMF was told that the new change after the cabinet’s approval will soon be placed in the National Assembly for approval.

The sources said the IMF suggested the implementation of a risk -based verification system to see if the bureaucrats have true their assets. The IMF was told that, after the approval of the new change, the authorities will also change the government’s servants who carry out rules from 1964 to put a mechanism into the accountability of the corrupt bureaucrats.

During its interaction, the IMF delegation asked if any sanctions have been described on the officials and whether these sanctions are also notified.

Limited scope

However, the extent of the new change is limited and the overwhelming majority of officers will still be exempt from publication.

The new change will only apply to the officials, defined in the official’s 1973 law.

The law says that “official means a person who is a member of an All-Pakistan service or a civil service in the Federation, or who has a civilian speech in connection with the affairs of the Federation, including any such post associated with defense.

Effectively, only the officers said in 12 business groups and the attached departments under this definition, an official in the establishment department. The official said that a total of 25,000 officers will fall into this category, which includes approx. 19,000 officers in the associated departments.

Establishment Minister Ahad Khan Cheema confirmed to the Express Pakinomist that the new change is “only related to employees covered by the 1973 officials”.

Dr. Ishrat Husain, the former adviser to institutional reforms, once wrote that the Supreme Court in Pakistan has established that a person who is in service to Pakistan. 1973. Therefore, any person in the “Service of Pakistan” cannot automatically become an official.

He also wrote that a nine-judge bench from the Supreme Court has decided that employees belonging to autonomous businesses and bodies under the federal government will not attract the definition of officials.

Pakistan’s public sector employs over 3.4 million at federal and provincial level from class 1 to 22. The autonomous organizations have 389,923 employees and there are 1.8 million employees in the provincial governments.

Pakistan Ungovernable

The IMF delegation also received input from independent experts on weakening control and rising corruption in Pakistan, the sources said. The IMF was assessed by the experts that the country had become ungovernmented due to the large size of provinces that had population greater than the total size of many countries in the world.

One of the participants recommended to create more provinces, and one of the options could convert the existing 31 divisions to 31 provinces, the sources said. The experts were of the opinion that due to large sizes of the provinces, it has become impossible to provide quality services and ensure good governance.

Several provinces would also solve the issue of provincialization of everything from government jobs to sharing in federal taxes, they told the IMF. One of the experts shared with the IMF that Pakistan’s population was exaggerated because of the distribution of everything on the basis of the population among the federal units.

The independent experts also highlighted the overrun in the Federal Income Council and prevailing corruption in the organization. It was also discussed at the IMF’s meeting with the experts that the judiciary and the bureaucracy have weakened over a period of time, according to the sources.